


Seedlings & Hammers

by MOcarina



Category: Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons Series (Video Games), 牧場物語2 | Harvest Moon 64
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Community Garden, Eventual Romance, F/M, Gen, Meet-Cute, Urban Farming, non-profit, the makerspace au no one asked for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:15:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28061526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MOcarina/pseuds/MOcarina
Summary: Claire is an enterprising newcomer to Flowerbud City working for a non-profit and meets a man with an inventive streak who can help her get her new initiative off the ground white trying to figure out his own dreams.A makerspace/community garden AU in the HM:64 world.
Relationships: Claire the Farmer/Rick (Harvest Moon)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	Seedlings & Hammers

It started with a phone call. 

Claire fidgeted uncomfortably in her folding chair, staring at the digits on her phone screen. _Why am I suddenly so nervous to make a simple call,_ she grumbled internally. The number in question belonged to one Rick Byrne, the cousin of her only friend at her new job at _Urban Fresh._ She sighed heavily into the static quiet of her shoebox apartment.

“I can do this, I need the help,” she spoke out to herself, and need help she did. She thought of the job that she had taken, 700 miles from where her life had been before. A bold, kind of _stupid_ move, she later recounted, but a move to working for what she believed in. She hesitated again before pressing the call button.

“You’ve got Rick,” the man on the other end of the phone managed, clearly the last vestiges of sleep clinging to his voice.

“Hi! I’m Claire, your cousin, Ann, um, said I should call you because you know how to build things?” 

The man let out a hum in acknowledgement. “Ah yes, Annie did tell me that one of her coworkers was going to have some questions, shoot,” Claire made note of how he did not seem to be annoyed at having possibly been woken up and gave an air of calming reassurance. 

“Well I, oh where do I start. I’m starting a community gardening initiative and so far all I’ve managed to get is the land to do it. Well, the first plot anyway. I need to figure out how to build planter boxes and a few other fixtures to get it up and running by spring.” She threw a glance out the window to the drizzly October morning, suddenly acutely aware of how unrealistic that timeline might be. “I have no idea where to start.”

“Well Claire, I’m teaching a class down at the hardware store on High St. at noon today, would you like to meet up there after to discuss this in person? It would be the perfect place to go over materials and tools with you, and I know the owner would love to get a new customer in,” he spoke with a warm, honeyed tone. “If you can’t, that’s ok! I just need to see when else I’d be free to talk.”

“That’s perfect! Thank you for doing this much for a stranger, it really means a lot. Do you - um, want coffee? I’m planning on checking out a local place today anyway and it’s the least I can do to repay you for your help and-”

“Oh! No you don’t have to do that for me. If Annie likes you that means you’re good people,” she heard him give a nervous, flustered laugh, “My class is over at one, see you then?”

“One is perfect, thank you so much again!”

“It’s my pleasure, see you then!” and the line went dead. Claire found herself flushed and a little overwhelmed. In the two months since she packed up her belongings in the back of her old Forrester and moved far and away from what she knew, she had introduced herself to countless new people and attempted to navigate a whole new city all on her own. _Maybe I can start to make more friends here, really feel like I’m part of the community_ she wondered idly, locking her phone and shoving it in her pocket. _Now I just need to actually build some gardens._

___________

Rick’s day started with a phone call.

He was jarred awake by the blaring of his ringtone, unwelcomely cheerful and loud in his ear. The call that followed the less than ideal awakening however, was much more pleasant. He had been expecting one of his cousin Ann’s colleagues to call for a few days, but what he had not been expecting was for her to sound so... nice?

Stepping in and setting up chairs in the familiar clutter of his favorite hardware store, he found himself distracted. _Who is this girl, and why does she trust ME of all people to help?_ The familiar din of his regular Saturday class for “Advanced Joinery” stirred him out of his thoughts as the crowd of mostly older men filtered in, grumbling about this and that. Rick gave a steadying breath and welcomed them, ready as he would ever be to give them the information they desired.

About three-quarters of the way through the class, the soft jingle of the store’s sleighbells rattled and the door gave a creaky whine, signaling the entry of a new customer to the store. Rick glanced up from the table of a particularly ornery student and that is when he saw… her. 

It was as if all air and cohesive thoughts left his body in that very second. She gave her boots a few good taps on the doormat and lowered the hood on her heavy work jacket. Her bangs clung damply to her forehead, gleaming like a golden crown in such a drab place. He watched her shrug off her large coat and sit in the back of the room holding two coffees in her hand. A pink flush bloomed on Rick’s face and ears, realizing that he was staring and that she was remarkably pretty.

Rick paused and excused himself to get a drink of water. _Chill, Rick,_ he scolded himself _, she’s here for help, don’t get ahead of yourself_. Across the room, he caught her eyes and she offered a shy smile and held up one of the cups beckoning him over. He gave her an awkward wave and weaved his way past the chairs in her direction. “You must be Claire!” he blurted a little too fast, offering his hand for a handshake.

“Sure am!” she shoved her hand into his and shook it. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your class, but this is getting a little cold,” she motioned to one of the cups, “I’ll just watch and listen until you’re done!”. Claire thrust a coffee into his hands, “I hope you don’t mind, it’s black, kinda forgot to ask how you take it.”

“Oh no, this is perfect! Thank you, I’m going to go wrap up and I’ll come back in a bit.” He looked down at her as she situated her bag and pulled out a pen and paper, “Thank you again for this, I needed the caffeine,”.

She smiled warmly and nodded at him and Rick felt something in him buzz with an unnamed anticipation. He returned to the back of the room and finished a final demo, thankful that he could blame the heat on his cheeks on the warm coffee.

___________

The first thing Claire noticed about Rick was that he was quite tall. The way he moved was a sort of elegant awkwardness that only a man of his stature could embody. When he had offered his hand to her she noticed how hers was dwarfed in in his grasp. She watched as he animatedly finished telling his class about the joint methods they would cover next week, and how he seemed to light up while talking about his craft.

Her notebook sat open, with a list of the size of the piece of land the city of Flowerbud had allowed for the project, as well as a list of high-yield veggies she hoped to plant and what she would need built. The next pages were all numbers and demographics of the neighborhood the garden would serve; one that was traditionally left behind by development and was in desperate need for fresh food and a positive outlet. She smiled, remembering who it was that she was working for; the people of her new city.

While she wasn’t looking, the class had cleared out and Rick had made his way back to her, sitting down at the chair to her right.

“Ok, I’m all yours, how can I help out? I assume you are focusing on food access like Ann does?” He pushed his glasses up his face, and stared at her intently.

“Oh, yes! I am! I took on the project without really knowing what I was getting myself into, but I really want to be able to bring this neighborhood something positive. Did you know they don’t even have a grocery store nearby?” she saw him nod, holding her eyes while doing so. “I think for now I just need some large planter boxes and a small tool shed, where do you recommend I start?”

“Well, first things first, we’ll need to make a list of materials needed for each planter and I’ll need to find some plans for a simple shed,” he pulled out a notebook of his own and began taking notes, “And you’ll need some tools too…” he trailed off when he must have noticed her face growing concerned, “Oh, I should have asked, where are you going to work on this?”

She stilled. Where _was_ she going to work on this? “Well, I ah, hadn’t thought that far ahead, I can ask if there’s a space office I can use at work maybe?” Her brows knit together. “I didn’t plan very well for this did I?”

Rick gave her an unreadable look before pushing his glasses up his nose. “Well, I do have a garage with tools and some space…” he paused, rubbing the back of his head “If you don’t mind being at my house that is! Then I can be there to help you too, I’m kind of between projects right now anyway and…” 

Claire’s eyebrows shot up “N-no that’s too much, I couldn’t impose on you like that, even helping is so much more than I could have asked and-” she was cut off by Rick giving her a nonchalant hand gesture.

“It’s really no trouble. To be honest, I’ve been looking for a way to help make this a better place to live, and this seems like a really good way to help. Plus, I don’t actually talk to too many people around my own age,” he gestured to the last few members of his class sticking around, “So this is a nice change of pace,” he bounced his knees awkwardly, “Um… anyway, I didn’t drive my truck today, she doesn’t like the rain very much, but we can figure out all we need to get and maybe we can meet this week to go and buy what we need? I’m free on Monday evening if that works for you?”

“That’s perfect, I need to run a projected cost by my higher ups anyway. Thank you again, you’re a literal lifesaver!” she beamed at him and caught the flustered blush make a reappearance on his face again. “I think this is going to make a huge difference or, at least I _hope_ it does. What do you think we should do next?”

Rick drew his hands up to his glasses and pushed them up, “Well, I need to make a spreadsheet of what you’ll need and give you the cost, but I should have that in your inbox by tomorrow morning. I’ll send you some helpful links about shop safety and tools so you can be ready when we start. Any questions for me?” He shot her a lopsided smile. When she shook her head “no” he began to pull on his jacket. “Let me walk you to your car then, we can go out the back entrance so we don’t get as wet.”

She was guided from the store to the back parking lot where they were both parked. She paused at her car door. “Really thank you. It was really nice to meet you, I can’t wait to get this started! Have a good rest of your day, stay dry!”.

Rick gave her another unreadable look before smiling brightly, “It was uh, really nice to meet you too. I’ll send you the info later. Have a nice day!”. He settled into his own car, a zippy hatchback and started the engine before waving to her. _What a day._ Claire thought as she turned up the heat and pulled out onto the main road. _I’m glad I found someone to help with this, he seems really nice too._ She made a mental note to thank Ann when she saw her next. This was going to be the start of something really good, she just knew it.

**Author's Note:**

> I was always sad that we never got the ability to romance the Flowerbud version of the Harvest Moon boys, my sweet awkward Inventor specifically, so I made this as a way to soothe some ideas I've had kickin around for a while. 
> 
> Enjoy, I hope to get chapters out semi-regularly!


End file.
